Amazon synod Archives

Pope says synod used ‘parliamentary logic’ when debating married priests

Sep 4, 2020

When it comes to the private notes of a pontiff, the world usually has to wait until they’ve died to have access to them, but Pope Francis this week made some of his personal notes public.

By Inés San Martín

If Francis really wants women deacons, this seems an odd way to go about it

Apr 9, 2020

The pontiff acted Tuesday on one of the recommendations of the recent Synod of Bishops for the Amazon by creating – for the second time in four years – a commission to study whether women might be ordained as deacons.

By John L. Allen Jr.

US Catholics respond to Pope’s ‘challenging’ Amazon document

Feb 15, 2020

The pope’s highly anticipated apostolic exhortation on the Amazon has sparked a variety of responses from Catholics around the United States.

By Nick Mayrand

Mixed reactions to Querida Amazonia from Brazilian bishops

Feb 15, 2020

The post-synodal apostolic exhortation published by Pope Francis on Feb. 12 generated mixed reactions from the Brazilian episcopate.

By Eduardo Campos Lima

Pope’s top aides say door still open on married priests, women deacons

Feb 12, 2020

Though Pope Francis’s highly anticipated document on the Amazon bypasses the hot-button issues of women deacons and the married priesthood, a number of the pope’s close advisers have said the door is not definitively closed.

By Elise Ann Allen

Pope Benedict XVI breaks silence to reaffirm priest celibacy

Jan 13, 2020

Retired Pope Benedict XVI has broken his silence to reaffirm the “necessity” of priestly celibacy, co-authoring a bombshell book at the precise moment that Pope Francis is weighing whether to allow married men to be ordained to address the Catholic priest shortage.

By Nicole Winfield

Pope’s early 2020 likely to be dominated by documents rather than deeds

Jan 7, 2020

At least for the early part of 2020, it seems likely the biggest papal bombshells will come in things the pope is expected to publish.

By John L. Allen Jr.

Theologians praise suggestion to add ‘ecological sins’ to Catholic catechism

Nov 20, 2019

A possible recognition of “ecological sins” in the Catholic Church’s main teaching document would help “sharpen our consciences in matters of ecological abuse,” according to Dr. Christopher Thompson, a leading moral theologian.

By Nick Mayrand